In 2013, a lot was happening in social media and destinations worldwide really embraced the social sphere. This lead to a number of social media campaigns that aimed to inspire and engage consumers or in the case of Belfast to support the local businesses and get people back into Belfast. It is no surprise therefore that the campaign won the Digital Tourism Think Tank Award in the social media category due to its very engaging approach of using social media to get people back into Belfast's city centre. Destinations and tourism businesses should look at Backin' Belfast's social media and overall campaign and see what marketers can learn from Visit Belfast’s success story (DTTTAwards 2013).

BACKIN’ BELFAST CAMPAIGN

Visit Belfast’s ‘Backin Belfast Campaign’ was developed to counter the impact of the flag protests on the local business community within Belfast City Centre. From January to March 2013, the campaign was used to counteract the negative publicity generated as a result of the protests.

Protests around major arterial routes connecting Belfast led to traffic disruption and delays, prompting workers to leave the city centre as early as possible after finishing work.

The main objectives of Backin’ Belfast were:

To drive footfall back into the city

To restore confidence among citizens and businesses

To harness and build civic pride

To create positive experiences and messages

To change the conversation

Negative social media conversations on Facebook and Twitter were rife, and the Backin’ Belfast campaign aimed to address this reputational damage by changing the conversation from negative to positive. The campaign encouraged businesses and residents to use the #backinbelfast hashtag on Twitter to promote a more positive conversation about getting people back into the city and supporting local businesses. The hashtag regularly trended on Twitter in the Belfast area during the campaign. Facebook and YouTube vox pops were also used along with more traditional offline media such as print, billboard ads, radio and PR which helped to support the online activity. Competitions, videos and photographs of campaign activity provided ample content for the campaign social media platforms. Celebrity endorsements from the likes of Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol), golfer Darren Clarke, actor Simon Callow and One Direction’s Zayn Malik assisted in creating a “buzz online.”

Discussion

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Who we are?

The Digital Tourism Think Tank is the name given to this initiative, which aims at providing thought leadership to the tourism industry in digital marketing best practice. This project was created by Nick Hall, Managing Director at
SE1 Media who has more than 10 years experience working in digital tourism marketing, both in the marketing sector and in Read More ...Contact Us